Unfortunate, I just wanna be a gutter rat... why you do me so dirty taleworlds?
At the beginning of THIS game you are a noble, you can ask to become a vassal but you are always a noble. As it stands right now, it'd be weird to join another noble's party as a regular recruit. I'd love it if they changed the start of this game and didn't force me to be a noble. Maybe the full release will let you choose your start. If not we'll have mods for that eventually.